Mayer insists on personally reviewing every new recruit, a practice that supporters say brings needed discipline to the company. Critics, however, say her high standards are hampering Yahoo's already challenged ability to fill vacancies.Still, Yahoo has almost 900 jobs open, representing nearly 8 percent of its workforce of 11,500, according to its website. Some of the openings are months-old. In comparison, Google has almost 1,000 open jobs, but that is just 2 percent of a workforce that is more than four times the size of Yahoo's.

Standards or no standards, putting one person as the bottleneck for 900 hires is going to cause trouble.

But Yahoo needs to cut payroll, and her policies are doing that. An employee who quits in outrage over being forced to come to work saves about $200,000 in expenses.

I think the personally vetting every hire is a bit much, but as for the rest? Why not? The worst that happens is that Yahoo! doesn't improve and she walks away with tens of millions in golden parachute money. At best, she changes the culture for the better.

I'm pretty convinced she's a terrible CEO no matter what, but her actions, such as banning mothers from staying home with their kids right as she finished a huge new nursery in her home, is the very definition of an out of touch CEO driving a company into the ground. Her gender is irrelevant in that, except that her actions are somewhat more shocking when she personally knows better, or would if she had any empathy.

Mentat:I think the personally vetting every hire is a bit much, but as for the rest? Why not? The worst that happens is that Yahoo! doesn't improve and she walks away with tens of millions in golden parachute money. At best, she changes the culture for the better.

in the late 90's even HAVING a degree was a serious red flag for many tech start-ups. If you were any good, the thinking went, why would you have hung around in college for four years? Instead a lot of the best and brightest were ID'ed by their professors who tipped off their friends running start-ups and they were whisked away to six figure salaries and stock options. Mayer's insistence on her hires not only having the "right" degree (CS as opposed to say EE) and from the "right" schools (incuding her alma mater -natch), pretty much eliminates a huge talent pool that includes some of the most innovative people in the valley

GAT_00:Sudo_Make_Me_A_Sandwich: Voiceofreason01: Because you have a clueless twat for a CEO.

Misogynist!

/not really, just thought I'd get it out of the way

I'm pretty convinced she's a terrible CEO no matter what, but her actions, such as banning mothers from staying home with their kids right as she finished a huge new nursery in her home, is the very definition of an out of touch CEO driving a company into the ground. Her gender is irrelevant in that, except that her actions are somewhat more shocking when she personally knows better, or would if she had any empathy.

I don't think I'm sexist, but I probably am. Still when I look at Mayer, and judge her performance so far, I can't hlep think she's a beneficiary of a fairly well documented pyschological phenomenon where men tend to think attractive women are more competent than they really are, and overlook mistakes they make.

Magorn:Mentat: I think the personally vetting every hire is a bit much, but as for the rest? Why not? The worst that happens is that Yahoo! doesn't improve and she walks away with tens of millions in golden parachute money. At best, she changes the culture for the better.

in the late 90's even HAVING a degree was a serious red flag for many tech start-ups. If you were any good, the thinking went, why would you have hung around in college for four years? Instead a lot of the best and brightest were ID'ed by their professors who tipped off their friends running start-ups and they were whisked away to six figure salaries and stock options. Mayer's insistence on her hires not only having the "right" degree (CS as opposed to say EE) and from the "right" schools (incuding her alma mater -natch), pretty much eliminates a huge talent pool that includes some of the most innovative people in the valley

She automatically reject Steve Jobs and Bill Gates because neither have a degree.

If Mayer wasn't a good looking woman, would Yahoo! be getting any attention at all regardless of all these stupid policies? Honest to god, every time it comes up the only thing I can think of is, "Why the fark is Yahoo still around?"

Shrugging Atlas:If Mayer wasn't a good looking woman, would Yahoo! be getting any attention at all regardless of all these stupid policies? Honest to god, every time it comes up the only thing I can think of is, "Why the fark is Yahoo still around?"

Magorn:Mentat: I think the personally vetting every hire is a bit much, but as for the rest? Why not? The worst that happens is that Yahoo! doesn't improve and she walks away with tens of millions in golden parachute money. At best, she changes the culture for the better.

in the late 90's even HAVING a degree was a serious red flag for many tech start-ups. If you were any good, the thinking went, why would you have hung around in college for four years? Instead a lot of the best and brightest were ID'ed by their professors who tipped off their friends running start-ups and they were whisked away to six figure salaries and stock options. Mayer's insistence on her hires not only having the "right" degree (CS as opposed to say EE) and from the "right" schools (incuding her alma mater -natch), pretty much eliminates a huge talent pool that includes some of the most innovative people in the valley

That is how I got my job right. My instructor gave my company my name and I was hired long before graduating. I was able to come up with ideas and creative approaches that those who were a little more technical studied that let me shine and eventually went on to lead the whole department. Sure you end up with a high learning curve in the field, but those that can handle it tend to thrive.

Shrugging Atlas:If Mayer wasn't a good looking woman, would Yahoo! be getting any attention at all regardless of all these stupid policies? Honest to god, every time it comes up the only thing I can think of is, "Why the fark is Yahoo still around?"

She's a pretty big name and a pretty good engineer - she was pretty much essential on most of Google's core services. That Google Search with just the logo and search bar? That was her idea:

I'm sure potential hires are eagerly awaiting questions about how to do quicksort or big-O notation that's going to be asked in interviews now. Especially when their job consists mainly of writing webapps.

I interviewed with a company a while back that required a degree from every employee, including low positions like interns, telephone operators, and secretaries.

I do not have my degree. I have about 1.5-2 semesters to complete my degree, but I do not have the time, motivation, or money to do so...and quite frankly I've got enough work experience/sales experience/IT sales knowledge that it does not matter.

I am a sales guy...no amount of schooling will teach you to be a good salesperson. Either you can communicate or cannot. And in what I do, IT sales, either you have a basic understanding of how networks, storage, virtualization, and application development work or you don't.

Anyway, I am recruited by a sales manager through LinkedIn. I never see an initial application or pre-screening questionnaire...I just email him my resume, which is quite clear that I did not complete college. I go in for an initial interview and knock it out of the park. I have two more interviews and I am good to go. I negotiate a fair salary and bonus plan...everything is going just fine. At this point, I am waiting for the formal offer letter from HR...

I then get a call from some Sr. HR person who is quite pissy with me on the phone and tells me that the deal is off. She goes on to say that they ONLY hire folks with college degrees, and relevant work experience, and work successes fall 2nd to the degree requirement. She told me "They pride themselves in having a staff that is 100% college educated." I then call the Sales Manager, who fights with HR and ownership for a week...I send off verifiable info like certs, proven sales records...I was even going to bring over 2 "in the bag" deals...

I did not get the job. Stupid, stupid people running that company. Last I heard, they were having some difficulty in staffing...

GAT_00:I'm pretty convinced she's a terrible CEO no matter what, but her actions, such as banning mothers from staying home with their kids right as she finished a huge new nursery in her home, is the very definition of an out of touch CEO driving a company into the ground. Her gender is irrelevant in that, except that her actions are somewhat more shocking when she personally knows better, or would if she had any empathy.

The nursery is in a room next to her office, it's not huge, and apparently she furnished it using her own funds and mostly by purchasing a few items from ikea (a table, some shelves, a crib). She also returned to work 2 weeks after the birth as opposed to 2 months afterwards.

RexTalionis:She's a pretty big name and a pretty good engineer - she was pretty much essential on most of Google's core services. That Google Search with just the logo and search bar? That was her idea:

Some people who are really really good at one thing are really bad at others. See also: Michael Jordan as a team owner.

JK47:GAT_00: I'm pretty convinced she's a terrible CEO no matter what, but her actions, such as banning mothers from staying home with their kids right as she finished a huge new nursery in her home, is the very definition of an out of touch CEO driving a company into the ground. Her gender is irrelevant in that, except that her actions are somewhat more shocking when she personally knows better, or would if she had any empathy.

The nursery is in a room next to her office, it's not huge, and apparently she furnished it using her own funds and mostly by purchasing a few items from ikea (a table, some shelves, a crib). She also returned to work 2 weeks after the birth as opposed to 2 months afterwards.

Man. I heard her on NPR the other day. She sounded really stupid. Like the way she spoke and the words she used just sounded completely unconvincing as far as CEO material goes. I'm so glad I didn't invest in Yahoo.

RexTalionis:Shrugging Atlas: If Mayer wasn't a good looking woman, would Yahoo! be getting any attention at all regardless of all these stupid policies? Honest to god, every time it comes up the only thing I can think of is, "Why the fark is Yahoo still around?"

She's a pretty big name and a pretty good engineer - she was pretty much essential on most of Google's core services. That Google Search with just the logo and search bar? That was her idea:

[i1-mac.softpedia-static.com image 850x675]

I wonder why she settled for the information vomit that the new and improved? yahoo front page is.

If a CEO cuts staff by 2%, the stock will go up every time. Does that mean that the CEO knows what they're doing? Or does it mean that the stockholders are looking for different things than the real health of the company?

I have to admit she has some policies that, on the face of it, seem agonizingly bad. But it's refreshing to see someone actually making unpopular decisions instead of restructuring and making long speeches. Yahoo will succeed or fail through her own decisions and merits. And for those of you so sure Yahoo is going to fail - put $1000 down to short the stock.

Magorn:Mentat: I think the personally vetting every hire is a bit much, but as for the rest? Why not? The worst that happens is that Yahoo! doesn't improve and she walks away with tens of millions in golden parachute money. At best, she changes the culture for the better.

in the late 90's even HAVING a degree was a serious red flag for many tech start-ups. If you were any good, the thinking went, why would you have hung around in college for four years? Instead a lot of the best and brightest were ID'ed by their professors who tipped off their friends running start-ups and they were whisked away to six figure salaries and stock options. Mayer's insistence on her hires not only having the "right" degree (CS as opposed to say EE) and from the "right" schools (incuding her alma mater -natch), pretty much eliminates a huge talent pool that includes some of the most innovative people in the valley

Well this describes me in the summer of 1996, got my first internship on the phone in my professor's office after he got a call from a colleague. My boss insisted that I return to school and finish my degree. Despite the good times of the dot com boom, you still needed a degree to be considered.

I know a developer who doesn't have a degree -- he created a portfolio of applications and elegant code to show instead. From a job hunting perspective, it's much harder than having a degree.

GAT_00:I'm pretty convinced she's a terrible CEO no matter what, but her actions, such as banning mothers from staying home with their kids right as she finished a huge new nursery in her home, is the very definition of an out of touch CEO driving a company into the ground. Her gender is irrelevant in that, except that her actions are somewhat more shocking when she personally knows better, or would if she had any empathy.

We get it - you don't like her for some arbitrary reason. But she did not "ban mothers from staying home with their kids". If you are going to bash an individuals job performance - at least come up with something real.

/anyone who makes it a point to state 'gender is irrelevant' has an issue with it

Endive Wombat:I then get a call from some Sr. HR person who is quite pissy with me on the phone and tells me that the deal is off. She goes on to say that they ONLY hire folks with college degrees, and relevant work experience, and work successes fall 2nd to the degree requirement. She told me "They pride themselves in having a staff that is 100% college educated." I then call the Sales Manager, who fights with HR and ownership for a week...I send off verifiable info like certs, proven sales records...I was even going to bring over 2 "in the bag" deals...

I did not get the job. Stupid, stupid people running that company. Last I heard, they were having some difficulty in staffing...

Reasons HR is overrated. In reality HR is pretty much identical to procurement but buying people instead of things. If the procurement doesn't like something about a specific order it will kick it back and force you to justify it, but it never tells a top manager that they CAN'T buy something because the specs don't fit whats on their fillin sheet.

Mentat:I think the personally vetting every hire is a bit much, but as for the rest? Why not? The worst that happens is that Yahoo! doesn't improve and she walks away with tens of millions in golden parachute money. At best, she changes the culture for the better.

FTFA: Mayer insists on personally reviewing every new recruit, a practice that

I respect her more for that. Anyways, many of the vacancies might be unnecessary in the future if she institutes changes. Yahoo sucked before, and I don't understand the hate she's getting for trying to change that.